Saturday, May 17, 2008

For Dog Foodies

I have recently found all these wonderful blogs where folks are sharing about all the fun things they do (Posie Gets Cozy, Smitten Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman)- and I especially love to read the recipes and look at the pictures of the dish being prepared.

Most of cooking I do is for my dogs - so here is my homage to the dog foodies. About a year ago, Scout was several months out of coat, itchy, and a picky eater. Everytime I would hear about a new food that had done wonders for someone's dog, I would run out and buy it, and Scout might eat it a few times and then turn up her nose at it. She was getting thinner and itchier and I was at a loss of what to do. This was also around the same time when there were so many dog food recalls which was making me nervous as well.

I talked to our DVM/Chiropractor, and she suggested that if I would invest some time in making their food, this might solve some of her problems. She suggested a trying a diet of about a third protein, a third carbs, and a third veggies and fruit. I came home and thought about it and came up with a recipe. I also made an appointment for Scout with a new vet in town who I heard specialized in nutrition. I took Scout in for a visit, and the vet agreed a change in diet was something that would likely help Scout, and when I shared my recipe, she thought it sounded perfect.

I have been feeding this recipe for about a year now, and Scout not only looks gorgeous, but is no longer itchy nor a picky eater. Spencer has thrived on it as well. Here's the recipe:

Carbs:

I fill my big crockpot with sweet potatoes (with peels, cut into chunks), brown rice, oats and barley. I add some oil - olive, canola or sometimes both. I add water to the top of the mixture, and cook on the lowest temp for the longest cycle. I usually put this on before I go bed, or in the morning before I go to work and let it cook all night/day. When it's cooked, I use my grandmother's old potato masher an smoosh it all up together and put it in a big plastic container. This usually lasts almost 2 weeks.

Next is the protein:

Chicken and salmon. I have tried several different ways of doing the chicken. Right now I'm buying a big package of thighs. I load up the crock pot, pour in some water, and cook on the lowest temp. When done, I discard the skin and bones, and mix the meat with a couple cans of salmon. This mix lasts about a week.

Veggies and Fruit:This mix varies with the season and what I have in the house. I use both canned and fresh. I just dump everything raw in the food processor and mix everything up together. This batch has fresh tomatoes, apple, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. I also added canned pumpkin and spinach.

I always have an attentive audience while I am putting this together.

Supplements: Each dog gets a half teaspoon of Solid Gold Sea Meal with each meal and a fish oil capsule. Scout also gets Royal Jelly, for her pretty show coat. There's mamaw's potato masher in the background. Actually there's two of my favorite things from different centuries right next to each other - the antique potato masher and my favorite kitchen machine - my Keurig coffee maker. But I digress . . .

This is the fun part for me - where they sit and look at it until I say the magic word. Sometimes I mess with them them -teasing them with O-hio and O-klahoma and such until I finally say . . .

OK! Most of the time, I stir Scout's food up, because sometimes she will spit out the veggies to get to the meat.

On my freshly steam-mopped floor.But Spencer is right there to clean up the mess. Thanks big guy!